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by Jeff Greenberg
This past Saturday in Chapel Hill was Senior Day for 16 guys that have meant the world to this program. They committed to come here when others wouldn’t at a tough time in the program’s history. However, they believed in what the vision was from head coach Larry Fedora and his staff. As a group they accomplished big things and laid the foundation for others to build off of moving forward. They raised the bar and set a new standard.
Unfortunately, they were unable to go out with a win on Senior Day. They got down early to NC State and made a valiant comeback that fell short in the end. What a packed stadium saw though was a will to fight that never wavered until there was no time left on the clock. It’s not the outcome they wanted, but it doesn’t take away from what these seniors mean to UNC football. Coach Fedora recaps the game and what’s ahead in this week’s “Five with Fedora.”
1. What was mood in the locker room after the game when you first walked in, and what were your emotions? – “It was extremely somber as you might expect. There were some guys that were emotionally having a really hard time. Winning this game meant a lot to them, and their teammates really wanted to get it done for these seniors. Not being able to do that was hard to take. As a coach it hurts too for the same reasons. We’re a family and we wanted to win it for those guys as well. I don’t like to see my guys hurting like that. On one hand, it’s good to see how much your players care and are passionate about what they do, but you would rather not have to see it this way to be reminded of that. You want your guys to be successful. I know it’s part of life to learn how to deal with loss, and that when it hurts that bad it makes you not want to feel like that again. But in those early moments after the game, it’s hard to get to that point right then and there.”
2. What got in the way of making those ordinary plays in this game? – “I wish I could tell you right now what that answer is. It goes back to every player and every coach doing the individual things that are necessary to be focused on making those plays that you do every day in practice. The plays we’ve been doing since we opened fall camp. I guess it’s human nature to start feeling like you know it well enough that you don’t have to put the same type of effort or intensity into it, but that’s just not the way this game is played. In football you have to be just as focused on the simple plays as you are on anything else you do on that field. You cannot take a play for granted. There are never any plays that can’t accomplish something for your team. Aall of us have to look in the mirror, players and coaches, at what we need to focus on moving forward to win our next game. We’ve said all along that one of our goals is to win our last game, but to do that we will need better focus than we showed in this game.”
3. How do you feel about rules that allow a penalty to be called only after seeing it on replay? – “That only happens on certain plays, and an onsides kick, for instance, is always a critical play in any game in any situation. I think they want to make sure they get those moments right, and I don’t have a problem with that at all. I don’t want to get something that wasn’t done the right way. There’s no fairness or sportsmanship in that. Unfortunately, Nick didn’t hit a very good kick, and he’d be the first to tell you that. That’s not a knock on Nick either because he's been an outstanding kicker for us. Just didn’t get what he wanted this time. The ball just got stuck and our guys did what they’re coached to do. But it’s a timing-type deal and we just didn’t get it executed.”
4. When you put yourself behind early, it can go south quickly. But your guys fought back, many of which got injured and came back in the game, and still had a chance to tie it up and go to overtime. How would you describe the fight in your guys in this game? – “There was never any doubt in my mind that our guys were going to battle until the end. We may have been disappointed in our execution early on but I wasn’t upset with our effort or fight. You’re right, you can’t spot a team that many points, but I think our guys believed they would fight back and win this game. Nobody ever had that look like it was over. I believed too. I felt like we were going to go down on the last drive and tie this thing up and win it in overtime. We all did. We just came up short and didn’t make enough plays before that last drive to get it done. And that’s on either side of the ball. That’s not calling anybody out; it’s just the way it played out. But our guys, many of whom did get hurt along the way and kept on playing, did not give up at any point.”
5. What is the plan moving forward as you wait to see where you’re headed for the bowl game? – “The next few days these guys will get a little bit of a break. They’ll lift and run, but they need to really spend some time concentrating on their studies. There’s only a few more weeks before finals, and this time is critical in getting prepared for that and taking care of everything they need to academically to close out the semester. We’ll probably get a couple of workouts in this weekend. Light practices to work on some timing and things like that. Then they’ll have finals and after that we’ll start practice back up. With class schedules the way they are you never really get in the whole amount of practices you can before the bowl game. We’ll get seven to eight practices in before we leave, and then three more at the bowl site. Righ now, I want these guys to refresh their bodies and their minds and get everything squared away academically. Then we’ll get ready to win this game.”
by Jeff Greenberg
This past Saturday in Chapel Hill was Senior Day for 16 guys that have meant the world to this program. They committed to come here when others wouldn’t at a tough time in the program’s history. However, they believed in what the vision was from head coach Larry Fedora and his staff. As a group they accomplished big things and laid the foundation for others to build off of moving forward. They raised the bar and set a new standard.
Unfortunately, they were unable to go out with a win on Senior Day. They got down early to NC State and made a valiant comeback that fell short in the end. What a packed stadium saw though was a will to fight that never wavered until there was no time left on the clock. It’s not the outcome they wanted, but it doesn’t take away from what these seniors mean to UNC football. Coach Fedora recaps the game and what’s ahead in this week’s “Five with Fedora.”
1. What was mood in the locker room after the game when you first walked in, and what were your emotions? – “It was extremely somber as you might expect. There were some guys that were emotionally having a really hard time. Winning this game meant a lot to them, and their teammates really wanted to get it done for these seniors. Not being able to do that was hard to take. As a coach it hurts too for the same reasons. We’re a family and we wanted to win it for those guys as well. I don’t like to see my guys hurting like that. On one hand, it’s good to see how much your players care and are passionate about what they do, but you would rather not have to see it this way to be reminded of that. You want your guys to be successful. I know it’s part of life to learn how to deal with loss, and that when it hurts that bad it makes you not want to feel like that again. But in those early moments after the game, it’s hard to get to that point right then and there.”
2. What got in the way of making those ordinary plays in this game? – “I wish I could tell you right now what that answer is. It goes back to every player and every coach doing the individual things that are necessary to be focused on making those plays that you do every day in practice. The plays we’ve been doing since we opened fall camp. I guess it’s human nature to start feeling like you know it well enough that you don’t have to put the same type of effort or intensity into it, but that’s just not the way this game is played. In football you have to be just as focused on the simple plays as you are on anything else you do on that field. You cannot take a play for granted. There are never any plays that can’t accomplish something for your team. Aall of us have to look in the mirror, players and coaches, at what we need to focus on moving forward to win our next game. We’ve said all along that one of our goals is to win our last game, but to do that we will need better focus than we showed in this game.”
3. How do you feel about rules that allow a penalty to be called only after seeing it on replay? – “That only happens on certain plays, and an onsides kick, for instance, is always a critical play in any game in any situation. I think they want to make sure they get those moments right, and I don’t have a problem with that at all. I don’t want to get something that wasn’t done the right way. There’s no fairness or sportsmanship in that. Unfortunately, Nick didn’t hit a very good kick, and he’d be the first to tell you that. That’s not a knock on Nick either because he's been an outstanding kicker for us. Just didn’t get what he wanted this time. The ball just got stuck and our guys did what they’re coached to do. But it’s a timing-type deal and we just didn’t get it executed.”
4. When you put yourself behind early, it can go south quickly. But your guys fought back, many of which got injured and came back in the game, and still had a chance to tie it up and go to overtime. How would you describe the fight in your guys in this game? – “There was never any doubt in my mind that our guys were going to battle until the end. We may have been disappointed in our execution early on but I wasn’t upset with our effort or fight. You’re right, you can’t spot a team that many points, but I think our guys believed they would fight back and win this game. Nobody ever had that look like it was over. I believed too. I felt like we were going to go down on the last drive and tie this thing up and win it in overtime. We all did. We just came up short and didn’t make enough plays before that last drive to get it done. And that’s on either side of the ball. That’s not calling anybody out; it’s just the way it played out. But our guys, many of whom did get hurt along the way and kept on playing, did not give up at any point.”
5. What is the plan moving forward as you wait to see where you’re headed for the bowl game? – “The next few days these guys will get a little bit of a break. They’ll lift and run, but they need to really spend some time concentrating on their studies. There’s only a few more weeks before finals, and this time is critical in getting prepared for that and taking care of everything they need to academically to close out the semester. We’ll probably get a couple of workouts in this weekend. Light practices to work on some timing and things like that. Then they’ll have finals and after that we’ll start practice back up. With class schedules the way they are you never really get in the whole amount of practices you can before the bowl game. We’ll get seven to eight practices in before we leave, and then three more at the bowl site. Righ now, I want these guys to refresh their bodies and their minds and get everything squared away academically. Then we’ll get ready to win this game.”
